Does anyone have any idea why in country’s like Australia the credit card/mortgage rates basically equal the CD/savings account rate? For example, right now I am earning %7.00 in an savings account in Australia while a home loan is going for %7.35. Any idea why in America there is a huge gap between the two?

Well, I am an American that just recently moved to Australia and opened a bank account easily enough. So certainly if you visit Australia its easy. I imagine if you were to call a bank like say NAB, Robo, Common Wealth, etc they probably have a way of opening bank accounts without actually requiring a physical presence.

Of course, you run the risk of the currency deprecating against the U.S. dollar. Right now the Aussie dollar is at historic highs, so it quite possible (especially with a labour (more socialist) that just took control) that the currency will deprecate at a rate that will make it unfavorable for U.S. investors.

@z4ce: “it quite possible (especially with a labour that just took control) that the currency will deprecate…”

Yeah, because the economy of Bush I, Bush II and Reagan were so much better than that of FDR and Clinton.

Conservatives are craptastic for the economy, because they promise everything, then pawn off the costs on young children to pay off. While interfering with the market to reward their cronies. And sexing boys or foot-tapping in men’s rest rooms, but maybe that’s simply an American thing.

@TRAI_DEP yes the economy legacy of Reagan and Bush I was stellar, that was the economy Bill Clinton had to work with, the economy Bush II has had to work with is the left over fallout from Clinton’s administration. Get your facts straight the economy doesn’t change in seconds, it takes most of a presidents term if not all of it for the economic policies to actually come to fruition. This excludes the possibilities of arguing that our foreign policy has artificially increased the prices of imported products such as oil. However that doesn’t seem to be the case and is more the direct result of the federal reserve which is the truest evil organization in the USA.

Ron Paul for an American dollar thats worth more than the paper it’s printed on.

…He’s a Paultard. There’s really no point in discussing economics with them, since they’re completely divorced from facts, reality or the give-and-take that normally takes place when conversing among adults. Besides, don’t you know that, once we’re back on the Gold Standard, recessions, depressions, inflation and deficits will disappear? Because… Because… Well just because, damn it!